The present invention is related to the field of monitoring vehicle traffic information. More specifically, this disclosure presents a method and system for predicting the encounter of an abnormal traffic situation based on direction of travel and traffic alerts.
Currently in large metropolitan areas, a driver may unexpectedly get tied up in abnormal traffic situations due to accidents and roadwork occurring somewhere in the driver""s path. In order to avoid traffic jams or traffic slowdowns, advance warning is required so a driver can avoid areas where the undesirable traffic situations exist. One way to avoid traffic jams or traffic slowdowns is to constantly monitor different stations that provide traffic reports. However, to receive the appropriate report, the driver must 1) have the station on (and the station must be transmitting traffic reports for the driver""s area of concern); 2) be paying attention to the report; and 3) interpret the report and relate it to his or her route. Although these reports can be quite helpful to individual operators of motor vehicles, for the most part such reports are xe2x80x9cspotty.xe2x80x9d Drivers utilizing the existing traffic monitoring systems are subject to xe2x80x9cinformation overload.xe2x80x9d This information overload occurs when there is more information provided to the person than he or she is able to analyze. In order to use either congestion or alternative routing information effectively, a driver would have the information available and be familiar with the locale and street names to take advantage of this information.
Information relevant to attempts to address these problems can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,792,803; 5,173,691; 5,864,305; 5,900,825; and 6,014,090. However, each one of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages: 1) the inability to calculate and project the predicted vehicle trajectory; 2) the requirement that the user or driver be familiar with the driving area; 3) the user overload caused by attempting to keep up with alert locations as well as the current vehicle location; 4) the inability to predict the route by comparing current positions with the previously driven routes to reduce user workload and information reliability; and 5) the inability to filter information relevant to the vehicle""s actual direction of travel.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a system that overcomes these limitations by automatically 1) processing information describing traffic alert conditions; 2) processing the current position and velocity (speed and direction) of the user""s vehicle; 3) maintaining a database of historical routes to determine predicted vehicle trajectory; 4) providing traffic alert alarms from among a set of potential alarms based on at least one user selectable threshold that is personalized for that user; and 5) correlating the predicted vehicle trajectory with traffic alerts by automatically processing a combination of the vehicle""s predicted route and the user selectable parameters so that those traffic alerts that could affect the driver would be automatically and essentially instantaneously brought to his or her attention with minimal input by the user.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a system and a method for providing personalized traffic alerts. The system of the present invention, in one embodiment, comprises a traffic alert system, which includes a server portion and at least one user portion for providing personalized traffic alerts along a route. The server portion provides the user portion with the collected, compiled, and transmitted traffic alert information, including a traffic alert location. The user portion comprises a receiver in communication with the server portion for receiving the traffic alert information from the server portion, a position locator for determining a time-stamped position of the user portion, a user portion processor operationally connected with the receiver and the position locator to receive the traffic alert information and the time-stamped position of the user portion, to calculate a vehicle trajectory and velocity based on the time-stamped position, and to correlate a traffic alert along the calculated vehicle trajectory, a memory storage area including a historical route database wherein the memory storage area is operationally connected with the user portion processor to store and retrieve historical route data, and a predicted vehicle route may be determined within the user portion processor. In this case the processor analyzes the historical route database to locate a potential match with the calculated vehicle trajectory, and when the potential match is found, the potential match becomes the predicted vehicle route. If no potential match route is found, the calculated vehicle trajectory is used as the predicted vehicle route. An output device operationally connected with the user portion processor to alert a user when the traffic alert is correlated. Upon the occurrence of an end event, the user portion processor stores a sum of the time-stamped positions in the historical route database.
Another embodiment may further include, a personalized user parameter database comprising data including a user determined route, traffic alert cone parameters, a time to intersect traffic alert for warning and at least one route weighing factor may be stored within the memory storage area. In this case, an input device is operationally connected with the user portion processor for entering the personalized user parameters into the user portion processor followed by the user portion processor storing the entered personalized user parameters in the memory storage area. The user portion processor further determines the predicted vehicle route by comparing within the user portion processor the user determined route, the historical route database and the calculated vehicle trajectory using the route weighting factor entered by the user to determine the weight to give each comparison in selecting from the group consisting of the user determined route, the historical route database and the calculated vehicle trajectory for the predicted vehicle route. The traffic alert correlation can be further personalized by the user portion processor by including the personalized user parameters of the traffic alert cone parameters and the time to intersect traffic alert for warning in the correlations to determine whether to issue a traffic alert.
In another embodiment or aspect, the present invention comprises a traffic alert server portion for transmitting traffic alert information in communication with at least one user portion having a receiver for the traffic alert information, a position locator for determining a position of the user portion, a processor for calculating a vehicle trajectory and correlating a traffic alert along the calculated vehicle trajectory and an output device to alert a user when the traffic alert is correlated. The traffic alert information includes a location of the traffic alert. The server portion comprises a collector of the traffic alert information from numerous sources, a compiler operationally connected with the collector to compile the collected traffic alert information into a traffic alert system-readable format, and a transmitter operationally connected with the compiler for communicating the compiled traffic alert information to the user portion.
In yet another embodiment or aspect, the present invention comprises a system for providing personalized traffic alerts comprising a traffic alert system, which includes a traffic alert server portion and a traffic alert user portion in communication with the server portion, wherein the server portion includes, a means for collecting a traffic alert information from numerous sources, a means for compiling the traffic alert information into a traffic alert system-readable format operationally connected with the means of collecting, and a means for transmitting the traffic alert information to the user portion with the means for transmitting operationally connected with the means of compiling. The user portion includes a user portion receiver in communication with the server portion to receive the transmitted traffic alert information in the user portion, a user portion processor operationally connected with the user portion receiver to receive the received traffic alert information, and an input device operationally connected with the user portion processor to allow for entry of a user determined route and personalized user parameters into the user portion processor. The user portion also includes a position locator with a time-stamped position output operationally connected with the user portion processor for sending the time-stamped output into the user portion processor. A memory storage area also includes a historical route database area, for storing the historical route database, the personalized user parameters and the user-determined route operationally connected with the user portion processor. The user portion processor further configured to determine a calculated vehicle trajectory based on the received time-stamped position, to compare the calculated vehicle trajectory with both the user determined route and the stored historical route database to determine a predicted vehicle route, to correlate a traffic alert along a route by correlating the traffic alert information locations and the predicted vehicle route to determine a probability of a traffic alert intersect, and to determine if the time and the probability are within the personalized user parameters. An output device operationally connected with the user portion processor is provided to output the traffic alert to the user. The user portion processor also sums and stores the time-stamped positions along the route in the historical route database for later reference.
The present invention also comprises the provision of a method for providing personalized traffic alerts along a route to at least one user portion, with each of the user portions including a receiver for traffic alert information from an information source operationally connected with a user portion processor for calculating vehicle trajectory and correlating a traffic alert operationally connected with a position locator and a memory storage area operationally connected with the user portion processor for storing and analyzing historical route database and the user portion processor operationally connected with an output device.
Specifically, the method comprises steps of:
a. receiving traffic alert information including a traffic alert location for the traffic alert information from the information source;
b. receiving a time-stamped position from the position locator;
c. calculating a vehicle trajectory based on the received time-stamped position;
d. determining a predicted vehicle route by analyzing the historical route database to locate a potential match with the calculated vehicle trajectory, when a potential match is found the potential match becomes the predicted vehicle route, otherwise the calculated vehicle trajectory is the predicted vehicle route;
e. correlating the traffic alert along the predicted vehicle route by comparing the received traffic alert information location and the predicted vehicle route to correlate if the received traffic alert information location and the predicted vehicle route coincide;
f. outputting to the output display the correlated traffic alert;
g. repeating the receiving step a through the outputting step f until the end event; and
h. storing a sum of the time-stamped positions in the historical route database memory storage area for later use in analyzing the historical route database.
Another embodiment, or aspect, of the present invention further includes an input device, and the memory storage area further including a database for personalized user parameters, and a user determined route. The input device and the memory storage area are operationally connected with the user portion processor. The method further comprises steps of:
a. receiving transmitted traffic alert information in the user portion from the server portion;
b. receiving a time-stamped position from the position locator;
c. storing the received time-stamped position in the memory storage area;
d. calculating a vehicle trajectory based on the received time-stamped position;
e. entering the personalized user parameters including a traffic alert cone parameters, a time to intersect traffic alert for warning, and at least one route weighing factor into the user portion processor via an input device when desired;
f. storing the entered personalized user parameters in the memory storage area;
g. receiving the user determined route into the user portion via the input device when desired;
h. storing the user determined route, when entered, in a user determined route database in the memory storage area;
i. determining the predicted vehicle route by analyzing the calculated vehicle trajectory, the historical route database, and the user determined route with the personalized user parameters for the route weighting factor to determine which has the highest route weighting factor and is determined to be the predicted vehicle route;
j. correlating the traffic alert information location and the predicted vehicle route to determine if the traffic alert information location and the predicted vehicle route coincide, by further correlating a traffic alert intersect probability by comparing the predicted vehicle route, the traffic alert cone parameters, and the traffic alert area with the personalized user parameters to determine if an intersection with the traffic alert is probable, and by further correlating a time to intersect the traffic alert along the predicted vehicle route by comparing the predicted vehicle route and the traffic alert information to derive the time to intersect the traffic alert and comparing the time to intersect with the personalized user parameters for the time to intersect to correlate if the time to intersect the traffic alert parameters are met;
k. outputting a signal from the output device when an intersection with a traffic alert is probable as determined in step j;
l. repeating the receiving step a through the outputting step k until the end event; and
m. storing a sum of the time-stamped positions in the historical route database memory storage area for later use in analyzing the historical route database.
The present invention also comprises the provision of a method for providing traffic alert information along a route from a server portion to at least one user portion, with each of the user portions including a receiver for traffic alert information from an information source operationally connected with a user portion processor for calculating vehicle trajectory and correlating a traffic alert operationally connected with a position locator operationally connected with an output device, with each of the server portions including a means for collecting traffic alert information operationally connected with a means for compiling the collected traffic alert information operationally connected with a means for transmitting the compiled traffic alert information.
Specifically, the method comprises the steps of:
a. collecting traffic alert information including a traffic alert location for the traffic alert information in the server portion;
b. compiling the collected traffic alert information into a traffic alert system-readable format; and
c. transmitting the compiled traffic alert information from the server portion to the user portion.